


You Are More Than Just a Dream

by Kateifer



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: 8/13 - Freeform, AkuRoku Day, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentioned Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Nightmares, Past Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 14:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15687018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kateifer/pseuds/Kateifer
Summary: Nightmares had been giving Roxas more grief than he understood, leaving him with a sense of dread and fear that he could never quite understand.  They were just nightmares, right?  Luckily, Roxas has a good boyfriend in his bed to help him remember that everything was alright.





	You Are More Than Just a Dream

_Why was Xion so scared? Why wouldn’t she listen to him? If she just came back, everything would be fine, right? Axel and Roxas wouldn’t try to take her back if they thought she was in danger. Roxas wasn’t trying to hurt her, he was trying to help her. So why was she flinching away? Why was she still trying to run?_

_“Wait!” Roxas couldn’t let her walk away. It had already taken him so long to find her, and if she left again who knows if he would find her before she wound up in more trouble. Roxas reached out to grab her wrist, to make her stop and try to get through to her again. Why wouldn’t she just listen? They were friends, he was trying to help, why didn’t she seem to believe that?_

_Why did she look so ready to fight him when she drew her keyblade?_

_Roxas’ hand dropped, and it felt like there was ice in his veins. Xion was his friend, she wouldn’t hurt him. Right? But then why did she need to make him think she would?_

_If Roxas could just get through to her, everything would be fine. They could go back and work things out. A chakram being just narrowly blocked by Xion cut off that thought process, as another element of the chaos unfolded. The chakram faded into flames as its wielder approached._

_“Well hello there, Xion,” Axel’s conversational tone was undercut by something more sinister that put Roxas on edge._

_“Axel?” Roxas had more to ask him, like where he had come from, why he was attacking her instead of just trying to talk to her? But before he could ask any of that, Xion was charging him. He called out for her to wait, but it proved to be a moot point._

_Xion swung, Axel dodged and summoned his flaming chakrams again. Their weapons clashed as Xion blocked Axel’s attack, and the two flew past him as they fought. Roxas’ eyes followed their movements as Axel finally put enough distance between him and Xion to send his chakrams soaring her way, but he couldn’t make sense of it. Nothing about this made sense. Why were they fighting? They were all friends, all Axel and Roxas had wanted was to protect Xion, so why was Axel attacking her? This wasn’t right, nothing about it was right, they couldn’t be responsible for hurting each other. As Axel caught his returning chakrams and Xion raced in for another assault, Roxas couldn’t stand by to watch silently any longer._

_“Stop!” Roxas hoped that his request would be enough. And for a moment, when Xion halted, it appeared as though it was. But before Roxas could do anything else, Axel was behind Xion, subduing and catching her with brutal efficiency._

_“Xion,” Roxas raced over as Axel placed Xion over his shoulder, and before Roxas could say or do anything, Axel was vanishing before his eyes and taking Xion with him._

_Then he was alone, finally feeling whatever heavy dark thing was settling into his chest, and wondering where things could possibly go from there._

When Roxas’ eyes opened to process the dark room around him, the emotionally charged words and scene still ran through his mind. Even though none of it was real, and none of it made sense, it always made perfect sense as he slept. The sight of his best friend and his partner in strange black coats never threw him off in the dreams, it was as normal in his mind then as jeans and a t-shirt would be when he was awake. He knew to think of the weapon Xion held up at him a keyblade, despite no such weapon existing in reality, and in the dreams he never questioned why he and Xion used them, or why Axel could manipulate fire and throw giant chakrams around, or why any of them needed to do it in the first place. In the dreams it all made perfect sense, and despite none of it being real, there was this painful feeling of déjà vu whenever Roxas woke up from those dreams.

Not dreams. Those images of dark coats, strange monsters, magical weapons, fighting his friends, and flames encircling him couldn’t really be called anything but nightmares.

Roxas sat up from the bed and glanced at the glowing numbers of the alarm clock, sighing as the numbers informed him that it was no decent hour to be awake. The form shifting in the bed beside him let him know that he wasn’t the only one awake now, and his eyes moved to Axel, who was lying on his side and looking up at Roxas. Even in the dark room, a sliver of moonlight coming in from outside made his green eyes look as though they were glowing.

“Another nightmare, huh?”

“Yeah,” Roxas flopped back down into bed, staring straight up from the ceiling for a few moments before turning his head to face Axel, “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Hey, none of that,” Axel reached over to wrap an arm around Roxas’ waist, “Come on, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I just slept away while you’re dealing with nightmares?”

“They shouldn’t get to me this much,” Roxas shook his head, “Right? None of it’s real, and none of it makes any sense. But they’re always about the same things and they feel… I don’t know, different? They don’t feel like normal dreams, they feel too real for that.”

“From the sounds of it, I’d be pretty messed up over them too,” Axel pulled Roxas closer, “Wanna talk about it?”

“It was the one with you and Xion fighting again. Nothing new.”

“That one really bothers you, huh?”

“Of course it does! She’s our best friend,” Roxas took a moment to collect himself, “Why wouldn’t it bother me?”

“I wasn’t saying it shouldn’t,” Axel brought his arm away and turned to lie on his back, “I was just thinking out loud. Come on, roll over and get comfy.” That was a cue Roxas had come to recognize from Axel, something he always said on the rougher nights to get Roxas into a position he knew helped. Roxas didn’t bother arguing or hesitating, like he might some nights when he was trying to put on an act of not being as bothered as he was. Instead, he rolled onto his side and scooted so he was half draped over Axel, with his head on Axel’s chest. Axel wrapped both arms around Roxas to keep him close.

“Thanks,” Roxas mumbled as he got settled, and listened to Axel’s heartbeat under his ear. Something about the sound brought a peace to Roxas that he needed in the moment, it settled all of the dark and nasty feelings, the fear that always lingered when the nightmares came. He’d call Xion in the morning, at a more decent hour. Hearing her voice always helped assure him that she was fine, too. That they were all fine. That they were all happy and safe and no one was going anywhere anytime soon.

For a while, Axel just stayed quiet and let Roxas listen to the heartbeat and think. It was always best to give him some time without speaking to him so he could sort himself out. Axel’s hand reached out to rub small circles into Roxas’ back, but he stayed silent for a little while longer. Once Roxas felt less tense, Axel leaned down to press a kiss into the top of his head, lingering for a moment before he pulled back and looked down.

“Better?”

“Yeah,” Roxas looked up and offered Axel a tired smile, which let Axel know that he wasn’t just trying to look alright when he wasn’t.

“Good,” Axel returned the smile, “I’m right here, and Xion’s safe at home, too. We’re all good, and neither of us are going anywhere, so don’t you worry about that. Those nightmares are rough, but nothing like that’s ever gonna happen to us, alright?”

“Yeah, I know,” Roxas paused for a second, “But thanks, for the reassurance.”

“Hey, it’s not like helping you out is a hardship, you know,” Axel chuckled a bit, “I’m happy to do it, and anything else that helps you feel better. Got it memorized?” Roxas couldn’t help but laugh a bit too at the weird turn of phrase Axel used so often.

“Yeah, it’s memorized and stored right next to the multiplication tables,” Roxas yawned as he teased Axel, so he shifted to lean up and kiss Axel just under his chin (the only spot he could reach at this angle), then settled right back into his previous position, the heartbeat still providing a soothing background noise.

“Ready to go back to sleep?”

“Yeah,” Roxas’ eyes were already starting to droop, so he just let them close, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Rox,” Axel answered, “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Roxas murmured in an already sleepy tone. No matter how tired he was, no matter how rushed he was as he left the house, no matter how angry he might be at Axel after an argument, those words never went unsaid. He said them whenever he could, he let Axel know they were true even when he wasn’t saying them and in a million different ways. Those words meant the world to him, just as Axel did. He’d remind Xion how much she meant to him as well when they spoke next, because the same was true for her, he never wanted to leave his feelings for the two most important people in his life go unnoticed or unheard.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, some part of him felt that this was his chance to make up for something. For a time when those feelings didn’t have words put to them, when those feelings were messy and impossible to understand and never had the chance to be said. For a time that only existed in some abstract, far away memories always lit in a sunset glow, no matter how dark they felt.

**Author's Note:**

> The title for the song is from Out of My League by Fitz and the Tantrums, the song that kind of helped inspire this work. It might be a day late but happy AkuRoku Day anyway! (Everyday can be 8/13 Day if you just ship it hard enough.)
> 
> Please enjoy my self-indulgent nightmare hurt/comfort story inspired by listening to my favourite alt rock station.


End file.
